Entries in Dottie Sandusky
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Rob Carr/Getty Images(BELLEFONTE, Pa.) -- Before Jerry Sandusky was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison, his wife wrote an indignant letter to the judge criticizing her husband's accusers, particularly their adopted son Matt.

"As far as our son Matt goes, people need to know what kind of person he is," Dottie Sandusky wrote in a letter to Judge John Cleland ahead of sentencing.

Dottie Sandusky was referring to Matt Sandusky, who was adopted by the couple when he was a teenager and who, in the middle of his adoptive father's sex abuse trial, told prosecutors that he too had been molested.

"We have forgiven him many times for all he has done to our family thinking that he was changing his life, but he would always go back to his stealing and lies," Mrs. Sandusky wrote.

Matt Sandusky, one of six children adopted by the couple, defended his father during the investigation, but abruptly changed his statement and offered to testify against his adoptive dad once the trial began.

Dottie claimed that their youngest son, Matt, was bipolar, has had multiple run-ins with the law, and has stolen money from the Sandusky family, though she said she still loves him. Matt Sandusky was not able to be reached for comment.

Mrs. Sandusky's letter as well as a letter written by Jerry Sandusky were written as part of an appeal for leniency by the Sandusky family ahead of sentencing on Tuesday. Jerry Sandusky read a version of his statement aloud in court, as did some of his victims, who recounted their emotional trauma resulting from Sandusky's abuse.

Despite the Sandusky's letters, Cleland ordered Sandusky to prison for 30 to 60 years, tantamount to a life sentence for the 68-year-old former Penn State football coach.

Jerry Sandusky's two-and-a-half page statement, which closely resembled his oral statement in court, outlined a conspiracy Sandusky saw being orchestrated among his victims, the victims' parents, the police, court system, and media.

"First, I looked at me, my vulnerability, my naivety [sic] (some say stupidity) and my trust in people," he wrote. "There were so many people involved in the orchestration of this conviction (media, investigators, prosecutors, 'the system,' Penn State, and the accused)," he wrote. "It was well done. They won!"

Sandusky afforded extra attention to the victims' parents, whom he saw as the real cause of his victims' emotional and behavioral problems.

"I have been blamed for all of (the victims') failures and shortcomings, but nobody mentioned the impact of the people who spent much more time with them than I did. Nobody mentioned the impact of abandonment, neglect, abuse, insecurity, and conflicting messages that the biological parents might have had in this," he said.

Sandusky said in his letter that he had found inspiration in books about persecution, including that of a Rwandan genocide survivor. He compared himself to David in the biblical tale of David and Goliath, and said he failed to pick up a sling shot to fight the bigger Goliath.

Sandusky and his victims read statements in court ahead of the sentencing decision, while letters by Dottie and other Sandusky family members were submitted ahead of time.

During sentencing, Cleland told Sandusky that his continued denial of wrongdoing made him a danger to the community.

"The ultimate tragedy of this situation is that ... you have continued to conceal the very vices that have led to your downfall," Cleland said before handing down the sentence.

Sandusky has been sent to Camp Hill state prison for mental and physical evaluation before he is permanently placed in a different state prison.

Rob Carr/Getty Images(BELLEFONTE, Pa.) -- A poised Dottie Sandusky testified Tuesday that she never saw anything sexual occur between her husband Jerry Sandusky and any of the accusers in the sex abuse trial that could send her husband to prison for life.

Dottie Sandusky, who winked at her husband as she took the stand, said in a soft voice that she would be married to Sandusky for "46 years in September," and was the strongest witness called so far by Sandusky's defense lawyer, Joseph Amendola.

In a patient grandmotherly style, she described most of her husband's accusers as "very nice," but remembered some as "conniving" and "very clingy."

Her testimony followed a morning of testimony in which Amendola poked holes in the accounts of two lead investigators and challenged the credibility of the police and the alleged victims.

Dottie Sandusky bluntly denied the accusation of one accuser who told the court last week that during the Alamo Bowl she walked in on her husband trying to force the boy, now known as Victim 4, to perform oral sex on him. He claimed she interrupted her husband by asking, "What's going on in there?"

Mrs. Sandusky's version was quite different.

"I came in one day. It was like a bathroom and dressing area. They were standing there. I said 'what's going on' because Jerry was very upset and we had asked (Victim 4) if he wanted to go to a luncheon which was $50, and he said he'd really like to go. And Jerry said OK, and it was the day of the luncheon and (Victim 4) wouldn't go and Jerry knew I'd be very upset about spending the money."

Dottie Sandusky told the court room that nothing seemed inappropriate about the exchange.

"They were just standing in little hallways, they were fully clothed," she said.

Dottie Sandusky also rejected repeated testimony by the alleged victims that Jerry Sandusky would molest them at night in the family basement, an area they said his wife never went.

Mrs. Sandusky told the jury Tuesday that she and her husband had always shared a bed and that her husband would usually go to bed first. She also testified that she would often go down to the basement to get food out of a freezer there.

In response to the allegation from Victim 10 that he once yelled for help while being sexually abused in the basement while Dottie Sandusky was upstairs, Amendola asked whether someone on the ground floor would be able to hear someone yelling from the basement. "Yes," she responded and added that her hearing was very good.

She also described Victim 4, who testified powerfully about the sex abuse he allegedly endured, as "demanding, and he was very conniving, and he wanted his way and didn't listen a whole lot."

Amendola told Judge John Cleland that the defense "had not yet decided" about another unidentified witness. The prosecution can still call Sandusky to testify on his own behalf, but refused to tell reporters whether Sandusky would take the stand, saying only, "stay tuned."

Sandusky is charged with 51 counts of sex abuse of 10 boys. The jury of seven women and five men is expected to get the case later this week and Sandusky, 68, could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.

Centre County Correctional Facility via Getty Images(CENTRE COUNTY, Pa.) -- Former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky's wife has denied allegations that her husband sexually abused boys in their home and that she ignored cries for help.

Sandusky was arrested Wednesday on 10 new counts of child sex abuse charges based on the testimony of two new alleged victims. The new allegations bring to 10 the number of alleged sex abuse victims.

Dottie Sandusky, who delivered a $50,000 check Thursday to help bail her husband out of jail, was named in the testimony of one of the new alleged victims.

Mrs. Sandusky has been implicated in the alleged sex abuse crimes by three of the men who claim to have been assaulted by her husband.

The Pennsylvania attorney general's office, which is leading the investigation, would not confirm whether Dottie Sandusky was a target of their investigation or could face charges based on the testimony now available.

"I'll just say that it remains an ongoing investigation, driven by evidence and fact," said a spokesman for the department.

The accuser, known in the grand jury presentment as Victim 9, told a grand jury that while he was allegedly being raped in the basement of the couple's home once, he called out for her help, knowing Dottie Sandusky was upstairs. But she never came down to help him, he said.

"I have been shocked and dismayed by the allegations made against Jerry, particularly the most recent one that a now young man has said he was kept in our basement during visits and screamed for help as Jerry assaulted him while I was in our home and didn't respond to his cries for help," she said.

Jerry Sandusky, 67, is now charged with 50 counts relating to child molestation, and will appear in court for the first time to face his accusers on Tuesday. The preliminary hearing is expected to last several days.

Dottie Sandusky was not able to be reached for this story. The attorney representing her husband, Joe Amendola, did not return calls for comment.